Course Development : Including Tests

• Introduction
• Developing Tests
• Communicating with the LMS

In general, there are 2 types of tests in a training program which we could describe as:

1. Pop-Quizzes
   These are carried out during the course and are NOT graded. We'll not talk any further about these in the LM-Light standard since they don't involve course/LMS interaction.

2. Mastery Tests
   These are usually carried out at the end of a course, are graded, and the scores are recorded in the LMS.

Note: Sometimes one mastery test might be carried out before a course (a 'pre-test'), and then another at the end to try to measure any change in the student's understanding. Multiple tests within a single course are not supported by the LM-Light standard. But the functionality that it requires could be replicated by having 2 courses.

There are so many different formats for tests ... questions selected from a pool, courses without tests, drag and drop questions ... that including the management of tests in the main LM-Light standard was incompatible with the aim of keeping it simple. So the way that tests are coded is left to the developer.

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Developing Tests

You have many options when creating a test within an LM-Light course. The options include (but are not limited to):

• using JavaScript;
• using Java;
• using Flash

If you know that your course is only going to run on one particular LMS, you may also be able to take advantage of a server-side language such as PHP or ASP. However, if you ever have to move your course to another LMS in the future, you may have problems since that language may not be installed on the new LMS.

Examples of some of these forms of test are included in the Sample Courses. And you can create simple 'skeletons' of courses with tests using the 'Course Skeleton Generator' on [this page].

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Communicating with the LMS

Although the test coding is left to the developer, LM-Light provides you with simple ways to communicate with the LMS:

• when you are starting a test;
• when you want to log a test score; and
• when you want to declare that the course is complete.

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